Stuck With My Learning ...
 

Hi, i've been learning japanese for 2/3 weeks now and i know all my kana really well and about 15 kanji (only there english meaning though)

problem is, i want to learn the kanji so i can start reading japanese literature and hold a few conversations.

problem is, every time i seem to read a kanji, it has a different kana pronouciation! i.e. "1"

ICHIgatsu (January)
TSUItachi (the first day of the month)
HITOtsu - (one thing)

anyone care to shed any light on this? my learnings ground to a halt now i have to learn Kanji; problem is i love learning them and i want to know atleast all of them upto grade 6 by the end of the year!

thanks for any help!

Jamie

With numbers, it depends on what you're actually counting. Japan has a lot of different counters, which is quite annoying. As far as I know, for that, you just have to memorize it.

Kanji has two readings Kun-yomi (Japanese reading) and On-yomi (Chinese reading) you have to learn each of these. Sometimes there can be more then one on/kun reading. Also there are compound like kanji. This are called ginkun where the reading are neither On- yomi or kun-yomi but just a part of each. For example 今朝 is neither imaasa (kun) or konchou (On). Its broken in to pieces of each reading so it becomes Kesa (not all words are like this mind you).

Understanding of how to Read Japanese isn’t as easy as learning how to read English, where as you can sound it out. With Japanese even a native speaker must have prior knowledge of how to read that particular kanji. You can’t just look at how a Kanji is drawn to understand how it’s read. You must learn each individually.

In my studies I found one should learn Japanese spoken or written (kana) first, and then when that is understood well, kanji should be introduced. Not the other way around (could do the other way but it’s much easier this way).

I suggest starting on easy 1 – 5 stroke Kanji as it would be less confusing using my previous example (Kesa). Try and study easy words, like the ones you know Ichigatsu Tsuitachi and Hitotsu and remember what other kanji goes with each word as this is your key to how you read the kanji. Then try and use them in a sentence if you can. Find a work book with Japanese Kanji as this would be your best reference.

I like this site as it has no romaji you can cheat on ^__^ and gives you a multitude of words you can use for studying (by hitting go) Genki Kanji


Hint (This is Kanji for one not Hyphen)

一 reading イチ; イッ; ひと Ichi and tsui are On-yomi, hito is Kun-yomi. Can you see the difference in the kana?

i can see the onyomi is written in katakana and the kunyomi is written in hiragana.

i read somewhere that you use the onyomi reading when the kanji is used independant of other characters (i.e. one o'clock is ICHIJI) as the number 1 is independant to the other kanji (i.e. it could be 2 oclock, 3 o clock etc.) however, when used as an integeral part of the meaning (i.e. alone is HITORIDE - one person) obviously, if this was 2 people, it couldn't really mean alone, thus the kun reading is used.

am i on the right track? if i am, it'll make it alot easier to remember thing and how to read them! i know about 20-30 kanji that i learnt last night but i only know there onyomi reading (i.e. when they are used alone) so i can't really use them in much reading. once i know when to use each reading, i'll power through the rest!

anyone know any good japanese bookstores that sell books for children aged about 6? (i.e. only using grade 1 kanji) so when i finnish learning them i can read them and futher embed them in my mind!

Cheers =]

Jammie i think you are confusing 音読み (onyomi) and 訓読み (kunyomi)

音読み is chinese readings and they are used with words of Chinese origin. the in most cases if when the word is a compound (2 or more kanji) then it will be the 音読み.

訓読み is japanese readings and they are use with words of Japanese origin.
Something like 50% of vocabulary in Japanese comes from Chinese.

Well Jammie, that's just how kanji is. So many different readings for each kanji. You may encounter some with about seven readings or more.

You want to learn the entire set for grade school by the end of the year? That's pretty ambitious. Good luck with that.

i've leant about 20/30 in the last few days. but im going to slow down.

i found a japanese syllabus for a japanese language school in toyko, and they've taught the same stuff as i've been learning so far, so im gonna continue along that "course" in effect. they introduce kanji in "level 9" whereas im currently on "level 2" out of 20.

They teach 10 hours per level, 4 levels per course - so they have 5 courses.

I figured i'll just work through them =]

They use "Minna no nihongo 1" for levels 1-4 with the notes and translations which i have lying around, so i might aswell put them to some use.

I'd rather get a fuller understanding of the language than learn bad habbits and blitz it and make some mistakes!

got 2 years really, thats plenty of time to be able to comfortably understand everything in the JLTP level 3!

in my honest opinion, the best chance you have of learning kanji is with a nintendo ds and 'tadashii kanji kakitori kun'

you really love selling that game chachava, lol, you should work for the company that makes it.

jammie you don't need a nintendo ds, i personally found it counter productive as the only source of learning kanji, it is a cool aid.

lol, i should get commission haha!

It really did boost the rate at which I was learning kanji by an impressive amount... obviously, it helps living in Japan so I often see the new kanji I have learnt which is good practice too